Donald Trump is the first former US president to be convicted of serious crimes

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump on Thursday became the first former US president to be convicted of serious crimes, after a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 counts related to a scheme to illegally influence the elections. 2016 elections using payments to buy the silence of a porn actress who said she had had sexual relations with Trump.

The jurors reached their decision after deliberating for 9.5 hours. Trump remained impassive as the verdict was read, but the reactions of supporters and detractors gathered in the street could be heard all the way to the 15th floor of the courthouse.

“It has been a rigged and shameful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The true verdict will be given by the people on November 5. “They know what happened and everyone knows what happened here.”

Judge Juan Merchan scheduled the sentencing hearing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention to be held in Milwaukee, where Republican Party leaders — who expressed strong support after the verdict — plan to formalize their presidential candidacy. .

The verdict exposes Trump to possible prison time in the city where his tabloid manipulations helped catapult him from real estate mogul to TV star and, ultimately, president. It also tests once again voters’ willingness to accept Trump’s transgressive behavior in a year when he is trying to return to the White House.

Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict, and will face a strange dynamic as he seeks to resume his campaign with the guilty verdict in tow. There are currently no campaign events on his agenda, although on Thursday he traveled to a fundraiser in Manhattan planned before the verdict, according to three people familiar with his plans who were not authorized to speak publicly. Trump’s campaign took advantage of the verdict to raise funds, including a message that called him a “political prisoner.”

Falsifying financial records carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, although Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did not reveal Thursday whether prosecutors intend to seek jail time for the former president, and it is unclear whether the judge — who during the trial threatened to imprison Trump for contempt — would impose the sentence even if it were requested.

Neither a guilty plea nor possible imprisonment would prevent Trump from continuing his aspirations to return to the White House.

Trump faces three other felony criminal trials, but the New York one could be the only one to conclude before the November election, adding to the importance of the verdict. Although the legal and historical implications of the case are evident, the political consequences are less so, taking into account the possibility of reinforcing, rather than modifying, the divided opinions already held about Trump.

For any other candidate at any other time, a criminal conviction would have meant the end of their presidential aspirations, but Trump’s political career has withstood two impeachments, allegations of sexual abuse, investigations ranging from possible ties to Russia to plans to annul an election, and salacious personal stories, including a recording in which he bragged about touching women on the genitals.

In addition, voters have known about the general accusations in this case for years, and although shameful, they are considered by many to be less serious than the accusations he faces in the other three cases, in which he is accused of undermining American democracy and improper handling of national security secrets.

Before the verdict was released, the Trump campaign had argued that regardless of the jury’s decision, the outcome was unlikely to sway voters and that the election would be decided by issues such as inflation.

However, the verdict is likely to give President Joe Biden and other Democrats room to reinforce their arguments that Trump is unfit to hold office, although for now the White House has only released a discreet statement in the which noted that the ruling respected the rule of law.

Instead, the decision will give the presumptive Republican candidate more ammunition to push his unfounded claims that he is a victim of a criminal justice system that, he insists, is politically motivated against him.

Trump maintained throughout the trial that he had done nothing wrong and that the case should never have gone to trial, attacking the process from inside the courtroom — where he was accompanied by a procession of important Republican allies — and racking up fines for violating a order that prohibited him from criticizing witnesses, prosecutors and the judge outside the courtroom.

Republicans showed no signs of abandoning their party leader. House Speaker Mike Johnson lamented what he called “a shameful day in American history.” He referred to the case as “a purely political and not a legal exercise.”